The present invention relates to a portable, lightweight measuring instrument which uses the combination of a counter and a dial gauge to indicate the relative displacement between a main beam and a slider.
The conventional measuring instruments characterized by portability, small size and light weight which measure the relative displacement between a main beam and a slider include micrometers, height gauges, vernier calipers, depth gauges, etc.
In the case of vernier calipers, the intersection of the main scale on the main beam and the vernier scale on the slider is read off by the naked eyes and an error is liable to occur in the reading. Moreover, the minimum digit is read by the measurers feel and it is impossible to thereby avoid reading errors. To eliminate this inconvenience, a dial gauge is employed to read the minimum digit as enlarged, but in this case the upper digits are read at the intersection of the scales. Thus visual reading errors remain unavoidable. The same thing may be said about the other instruments, i.e., micrometers, height gauges, depth gauges, etc.
The present invention, which aims at elimination of this inconvenience, is characterized in that a counter for indication to the first decimal point and a dial gauge for indication to the second decimal point and thereafter are provided separately; both said counter and said dial gauge are mounted on the slider; both said counter and said dial gauge are used to indicate the measurement.